By ANN LOUISE BARDACH and LARRY ROHTER New York Times Service

A Cuban exile who has waged a campaign of bombings and assassination attempts aimed at toppling Cuban President Fidel Castro says his efforts were supported financially for more than a decade by leaders of the Cuban American National Foundation.

The exile, Luis Posada Carriles, said he organized a wave of bombings in Cuba last year at hotels, restaurants and discotheques, killing an Italian tourist and alarming the Cuban government.

(The foundation, in a statement faxed to The Herald on Saturday, vigorously denied that its members financed any acts of violence against the Cuban government.

(The Herald first linked Posada to the Havana bombings in a story Nov. 16, and followed up last month with a report naming him as the mastermind behind a 1994 attempt to kill Castro and other plots.)

In a series of tape-recorded interviews at a walled Caribbean compound, Posada said the hotel bombings and other operations had been supported by leaders of the exile group founded and headed by Miami businessman Jorge Mas Canosa until his death last year.

Although the tax-exempt foundation has declared that it seeks to bring down Cuba's Communist government solely through peaceful means, Posada said leaders of the foundation discreetly financed his operations. Mas personally supervised the flow of money and logistical support, he said.

``Jorge controlled everything,'' Posada said. ``Whenever I needed money, he said to give me $5,000, give me $10,000, give me $15,000, and they sent it to me.''

Over the years, Posada estimated, Mas sent him more than $200,000.

``He never said, `This is from the foundation,' '' Posada recalled. Rather, he said with a chuckle, the money arrived with the message, ``This is for the church.''

Foundation leaders did not respond to telephone calls and letters from The New York Times requesting an interview to discuss their relationship with Posada. But in a statement faxed to The Times and The Herald, the group denied a role in his operations, saying ``any allegation, implication, or suggestion that members of the Cuban American National Foundation have financed any alleged `acts of violence' against the Castro regime are totally and patently false.''

Posada, 70, agreed through an intermediary to meet with The New York Times, provided that his current residence, alias and the location of the interviews were not divulged. In two days of interviews, he talked openly for the first time about his dealings with the foundation's leaders.

Jailed for the 1976 bombing of a civilian Cubana airliner that killed 73 people, he escaped from a Venezuelan prison in 1985. Posada denied any role in that bombing.

Unverifiable claims

Some of what he said about his past can be verified through recently declassified government documents, as well as interviews with former foundation members and U.S. officials.

But he made several claims that rest solely on his word, including an assertion that he has agents inside the Cuban military and that U.S. law enforcement authorities maintained an attitude of benign neglect toward him for most of his career, allowing him to remain free and active.

Posada said all payments to him from the exile leaders were made in cash, and he said he did not know whether the money came from personal, business or foundation accounts. He said the money was used for his living expenses and for operations, and that Mas told him he did not want to know the details of his activities.

In the interviews and in his 1994 autobiography, The Roads of the Warrior, Posada said he had received financial support from Mas and Feliciano Foyo, treasurer of the group, as well as Alberto Hernandez, who succeeded Mas as chairman.

Hernandez and Foyo did not respond to repeated requests for comment, and it was unclear whether they were aware of how Posada might have used any money they provided.

Direct and unrepentant

On one point Posada was direct and unrepentant: He still intends to try to kill Castro, and he believes violence is the best method for ending communism in Cuba.

``It is the only way to create an uprising there,'' Posada said. ``Castro will never change, never. There are several ways to make a revolution, and I have been working on some.''

Posada proudly admitted organizing the hotel bomb attacks last year. He described them as acts of war intended to cripple a totalitarian regime by depriving it of foreign tourism and investment.

``We didn't want to hurt anybody,'' he said. ``We just wanted to make a big scandal so that the tourists don't come anymore. We don't want any more foreign investment.''

With a rueful chuckle, Posada described the Italian tourist's death as a freak accident, but he declared that he had a clear conscience, saying, ``I sleep like a baby.''

``It is sad that someone is dead, but we can't stop,'' he added. ``That Italian was sitting in the wrong place at the wrong time.''

Ongoing operations

Posada said he has several ongoing operations, including one that resulted in Cuba's capture of three of his colleagues in early June. ``Castro is keeping this a secret,'' he said. ``I don't understand why.''

Posada detailed instances of support from foundation leaders throughout his career. Mas, he said, helped organize his escape from a Venezuelan prison in 1985, and then helped settle him in El Salvador.

``All the money that I received when I escaped from the jail,'' he said, ``it was not that much, but it was through Jorge.''

Posada said Mas was also very much aware that he was behind the hotel bombing campaign last year. But the two men had a longstanding agreement, he said, never to discuss the details of any operation that Posada was involved in.

``He never met operators, never,'' Posada said. ``You ask for money from him, and he said, `I don't want to know anything.' '' Any discussion was ``not specific, because he was intelligent enough to know who knows how to do the things and who doesn't know.''